Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Eden's Zero Chapter 3 Review - Adventurers

Written by Shiggins

Heavy meta(l).

After last week picked up this story, helping Eden's Zero forge a new identity, I was looking forward to today's continuation. However, Eden's Zero is already starting to take a step backwards and can't help but keep bringing up the past. At least we got to see some new faces along with the old.

Damn, I just love gravity powers! (And yes, I'm aware that this is a very specific power to adore.)

The chapter begins right where we last left off, with the trio entering Meteor Torch to register Shiki as an adventurer. They come across the friendly receptionist, Clarisse Leiya, who is clearly Rebecca's close friend. This is when we then see a hologram of the giant space woman from last week, who is known as "Mother". Nobody knows who she is, where she came from or why she exists, but they worship her anyway because she's big and space-y.

I feel like this could somehow be amazing social commentary....

Shiki is convinced he's met Mother before, causing the Guild to laugh at him. When Shiki tries to befriend the people laughing at him, they just laugh harder. And this is what causes the Wendy-lookalike to pop over! Rebecca's rival and superior B-Cuber Lavilla Christi. She's cheap, smug, proud and basically what you'd expect from a fun counter, honestly. In a good way.

Couldn't they at least have shown her making out with Gajeel? This cameo is distracting enough as it is anyway so go full fanservice!

Lavilla and Rebecca have a dick-comparing moment where one tries to seem bigger than the other, but Lavilla is the clear winner here. For making Rebecca feel bad, Shiki levitates Lavilla to... hurt her? It isn't clear, but Rebecca drags him away quickly before he does anything, and Lavilla realises Shiki would be great for her next video.

The trio head to a diner where the entire waiting staff are... Plues! Or "Nikola" if you prefer. After being super-confused and super-amazed by them, Shiki complains that the Guild is not as family-friendly as he envisioned, causing a reference to another manga. *cough* Fairy Tail *fake cough*. Shiki's adventurer pass suddenly goes into effect, and he learns that Rebecca gave him the surname of "Granbell". He, along with the other two, are Class E. Lowest ranking. Underdog trope.

I... think she might be aroused.

As they overhear people checking out another Lavilla video, Shiki gets the idea to make the best video ever by visiting Mother herself! With a goal now decided, the trio realise they need a new ship some party members to assist them, including a doctor friend of theirs. So they'll go visit him face-to-face since he isn't answering. Back at Meteor Torch, Erza has arrived to find Shiki and is told by one of the members that he is heading to Planet River. However, that planet is apparently completely dead...

How I Met Your Mother.

Opinion: I'm getting tired of bringing these comparisons up...

In the first chapter's review, I mentioned that the character designs, especially Happy's, were too similar to Fairy Tail. And last week, I brought up the fact that having another Guild was exactly like Fairy Tail and how Elcy is obviously Erza. This week, I am yet again having to mention how Fairy Tail is still appearing in this series, and it's not for the better.

On top of a glaringly bizarre cameo by Team Shadow Gear, we have a girl who looks exactly like Edolas' Wendy did, the return of Mashima's true mascot Plue, and even an indirect mention of the Fairy Tail manga itself. A cute glance at the world of Fairy Tail and Rave Master could be fun, but Eden's Zero has officially gone too far. The immersion isn't strong enough to stay standing when I'm constantly reminded of how much fun Fairy Tail was before it. If they keep bringing up Fairy Tail every chance they get, Eden's Zero will never be able to form its own identity. And it was already having a difficult time doing so as soon as Happy made his first appearance alongside a blonde girl and a spiky haired boy!

It's like D&D for sugar-high kids!

The most memorable feature of today's chapter was Rebecca's rival, Lavilla Christi. As I mentioned before, she's certainly got a fun amount of traits that Lawful-Neutral characters like to utilise, and the possibility of her falling for Shiki could provide a lot of great humour and conflict. Depending on how funny this dynamic becomes, we might not even need Shiki and Rebecca to fall for each other and create a love triangle!

It is fun to see more of this "Mother", albeit briefly, and she is an obvious but appropriate goal for our heroes. The idea of them forming a crew and a ship to travel to a location is... well... too familiar and most commonly associated with One Piece. I know that Hiro Mashima and Eiichiro Oda have a friendly history with each other, but please don't become One Piece, Hiro Mashima. As tempting as it is to copy from the most successful manga ever!

Bottom line, I enjoyed this chapter but I am worried that Eden's Zero is refusing to create its own identity and could be making itself just Fairy Tail 2.0. Unless my theory last week becomes true and we're about to see a "Red Dwarf: Back to Earth" special starring Natsu in Shiki's world, then let's try and lay off the Fairy Tail stuff, hmm?

Manga Rating: 2.5/5

Character of the Week: Lavelli Christi for providing a fun dynamic, and being a smug bitch about it.

Took you long enough to show up, you weird... snowman... dog.... thing!

Shiggins:[Admin].

Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,.You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/

2 comments:

I don't really mind the FT references tbh. I think Hiro is making it clear that Edens Zero is NOT Fairy Tail, by showing us that:"Yeah, FT had friendship in their guilds, but EZ won't". He even referenced FT in that regard, indirectly admitting that FT focused on friendship and implying that EZ will avoid it(will it tho?)Also there's one thing this chapter that you missed which will make you even more mad.Tip: Page 20, the panel on the top-right